Episode 17: Dr. Anthony Albanese talks endoscopy video games and no wrong doors for addiction care

This episode of the Treat Addiction Save Lives Podcast features Anthony Albanese, MD, DFASAM. ASAM’s 2024 Annual Award recipient, Dr. Albanese reflects on personal memories about how he learned about addiction and aspired to be an endoscopist because of video games like Space Invaders and Pacman. Dr. Albanese discusses his approach to medicine, focusing on the mind-body connection. He also talks about the emphasis he places on addiction medicine education and its importance in challenging the stigma, shame, and insecurity around addiction. Dr. Albanese explains his philosophy of "no wrong door" to treatment, how his career has evolved, and what motivates him to continue his work. Finally, Dr. Albanese offers advice to the next generation of addiction medicine specialists. Dr. Albanese is the chief of medicine for the VA Northern California Health Care System. He is also a health sciences clinical professor of medicine and psychiatry at the UC Davis School of Medicine, and a vice chair in the Department of Medicine. He attended college and medical school at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, graduating in 1986. Dr. Albanese did his residency in internal medicine and fellowship in gastroenterology at The St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York (now Mount Sinai West), and hepatology fellowship at the University of Miami. Under the mentorship of the addiction physicians in New York, he worked in the hospital’s methadone clinic and detoxification programs. In Miami Beach, Dr. Albanese worked as the co-director of an addiction treatment program. After moving to Sacramento, California, he continued his work at the VA in gastroenterology, hepatology, and addiction medicine. Since then, he has had various roles at the VA including a position as an affiliations officer with the VA Office of Academic Affiliations. After completing a major national GME expansion project in 2021, Dr. Albanese returned to VA Northern California as chief of medicine. His research interests and publications have regarded the medical aspects associated with opioids and alcohol use, intestinal changes associated with HIV infection, and graduate medical education. He became a certified addiction medicine specialist first by ASAM in 1991, then by ABAM in 2007, and by the American Board of Preventive Medicine in 2019.   Links: VA Northern California Health Care | Veterans Affairs American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) ASAM’s Awards & Scholarships American Board of Preventive Medicine (ABPM)   If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, you are not alone. Treatment is available and recovery is possible. Visit ASAM’s Patient Resources page for more information. The information shared in this podcast episode is for educational purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice. The views expressed in this podcast may not be those of the host or the management.